Lots of local teams remain in the playoffs. We’ll have scores here. You can call your team’s score in to 540-981-9126.

The three Seminole District teams competing in this weekend’s Region III playoff semifinals — Amherst, Brookville and Liberty — are postseason regulars with something to prove.

As the Region B playoffs finally get under way this weekend, Gretna and Appomattox find themselves in familiar positions. The Raiders are in the playoffs for the third consecutive season and the Hawks have won four state titles in the past six seasons.

The ninth consecutive trip to the postseason for Gretna comes without perennial Dogwood power William Campbell. Taking its place in the Division 1 field is Altavista (9-1), which hosts Madison County tonight at 7.

The playoffs are in full swing and the top teams are producing some outstanding individual efforts. This last week seems to have been all about running backs.

Gretna’s football team finished tied with Clarke County with 24.2 points in the final VHSL power ratings for Region B, Division 2, after Monday’s rain-delayed makeup games. But the Eagles (10-0) received the No. 1 seed by virtue of their perfect record, bumping the two-time defending Group A champion Hawks (8-2) to No. 2.

Instead of entertaining fourth-seeded Appomattox in Saturday’s Region B, Division 2, semifinals, as was reported on Tuesday, Gretna will host third-seeded Buckingham (10-0) at 1 p.m. Appomattox (8-2), meanwhile, must travel to Clarke County (10-0) near Winchester for its 1:30 p.m. semifinal.

The Region B football playoff pairings were finalized on Monday, with Dogwood District co-champions Altavista and Gretna receiving the No. 2 seed in Division 1 and 2, respectively and Appomattox, which also earned a share of the district title, seeded fourth in Division 2.

The two-time defending Group A, Division 2, state champion Hawks (8-2) will host third-seeded Buckingham (10-0) in one Region B, Division 2, semifinal on Saturday at 1 p.m. before Appomattox (8-2) travels to top-seeded Clarke County (10-0) in the other.

NARUNA — For years, the William Campbell-Gretna game has been a high-stakes affair.

Though that was not the case this year for the Generals, the Hawks still had plenty on the line in their regular-season finale, including a share of the Dogwood District title and a No.1-seed in the Region B, Division 2, playoffs.

Playing on Saturday instead of Friday because of the weather, which wreaked havoc on area football fields, the Hawks, led by senior running back Andre Dickerson’s 169 rushing yards, steamrolled the Generals 69-30.

GRETNA — As Kevin Saunders was being introduced as the new coach of Gretna’s football team back in May, a game that was being highlighted on the upcoming schedule was the season finale for the Hawks — at William Campbell.

With the two teams combining to win the past nine Dogwood District titles, many felt that this game — the first time the two teams have played in the regular season finale since 2002 — would decide the champion of the Dogwood.

Either someone forgot to tell the Potomac Panthers that they were playing in the state semifinals or the Liberty Flames, not the LCA Bulldogs, were on the field Friday night in LU’s Williams Stadium.

One way or the other, the Panthers were outmatched and overwhelmed against the Bulldogs. Up 56-0 at halftime, LCA mercifully called off the dogs in the second half and went on to win 63-0.

The wait is over for Altavista’s football team, which last won a Dogwood District title 38 years ago in 1971 when Richard Nixon was in his first term as president.

The Colonels earned a share of the district crown Friday night when they defeated visiting Nelson County 43-13. If Gretna beats William Campbell today, the Colonels, Hawks and Appomattox will all have a piece of the title.

AMHERST — Never before in Jeff Woody’s six seasons as Brookville’s coach had the Bees won a football game by scoring a touchdown to overcome a deficit in the final minute.

They nearly did it in last year’s Group AA, Division 3, championship game, but their last-ditch drive on Liberty University’s turf stalled and they fell to James Monroe in a 50-46 shootout.

Friday night, playing in the Region III, Division 3, quarterfinal on Amherst’s home turf since Stinger Stadium was left too wet by this week’s torrential rain, Brookville (9-2) delivered the knockout punch against Alleghany (6-5) on a fourth-down sweep by junior Deshon Foxx with 35 seconds left in regulation.

The rain has forced several date and location changes. Here are the games from this region that we’re reporting on. If you get news of a change or a final score that’s not shown here, please call us at 540-981-9126.

Preview capsules of tonight’s football games, including three playoff contests.

Brookville’s Region III, Division 3, quarterfinal football game against Alleghany has been moved to Amherst High School, the first in the area to install Pro-Grass field turf, due to the wet field conditions at Stinger Stadium caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida.

Wet weather conditions have forced Liberty Christian Academy’s football team to practice inside the past three days, meaning the Bulldogs, who are coming off a bye week, could be a bit rusty going into tonight’s Virginia Independent Schools Division I state semifinal against Potomac School.

Fortunately, they will have the luxury of playing on the FieldTurf at Liberty University’s Williams Stadium.

Win or lose tonight, in its Region III, Division 4, quarterfinal at Spotswood, Staunton River’s football season has been an unqualified success.

“It’s been an unbelievable season,” second-year coach Rick Witt said. “It’s very exciting. Nobody in the world thought this team had a chance to go to the playoffs. Everything we do now is icing on the cake.”

GRETNA — It’s an odd feeling for a Gretna Hawk football team: Trying to bounce back from a regular-season loss more than once in a year.

It hasn’t happened since 2002, when the Hawks went 8-4. But that was exactly the task in front of Gretna this week. The Hawks were coming off a loss to Appomattox, the first Dogwood team other than William Campbell to defeat them in the last seven years. Gretna also lost its season opener at LCA.

And pity poor Chatham, which was on the other side of Gretna’s rebound effort. The Hawks scored two touchdowns before the Cavaliers could blink as Gretna cruised to a 52-0 victory that lasted less than two hours, thanks to a second-half running clock.

If football games were beauty pageants, Friday night’s Amherst-Rustburg matchup would not have even made it out of the first round.

But thankfully they’re not, and Amherst clinched another Seminole District championship with a 45-0 victory over the Red Devils.

RINGGOLD — Neal Thomas did not play like his heart was heavy and his mind was elsewhere. For the senior wide receiver, the plays that he made on offense and defense seem to come as naturally as they would in any other game.

Thomas, who lost his father earlier in the week, scored two touchdowns midway through the Raiders’ contest against Dan River that swung the tide toward the Appomattox sideline.

That momentum — and a key stop by the Raiders’ defense on a potential Dan River game-tying two-point conversion in overtime — gave the Raiders a 28-26 victory and ensured Appomattox a share of the Dogwood District title and a berth in the Region B, Division 2, playoffs.

Fourteen jumping jacks. That’s how many the Liberty Minutemen football team will do in practice.

The number is 14 because that is how long coach Chris Watts wants this season to be. A 14-game season for the Minutemen would mean a first-round bye in the playoffs and a run to the state championship game.

The playoff picture may still be uncertain, but with a 43-23 home win against Heritage on Friday, the Minutemen locked up that first-round bye and assured themselves of at least two more weeks of practice and sets of 14 jumping jacks.

FOREST — Early in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Seminole District finale at Sabre Stadium, Brookville’s Deshon Foxx took a pitch from quarterback Kendall Becraft, just like he had three times before.

He had turned one into his second first-half touchdown, slanting inside the left pylon on fourth-and-goal from Jefferson Forest’s 2.

But this time, with the game tied at 20 and the Bees facing third-and-8 at JF’s 28, Foxx rolled to his right and unleashed a 30-yard spiral that hit Alec Thompson in stride in the right side of the end zone for the winning touchdown in a 27-20 triumph.

Brookville at Jefferson Forest and G-Dub at Fleming top the list of games this week. Staunton River still has a chance to get into the playoffs if they can win against Northside. Check back for scores and highlights. Don’t forget to make sure we’ve got your team’s score. You can call 540-981-9126.

At the start of this season, Appomattox second-year coach Ben Martin anticipated there would be five legitimate contenders in the seven-team Dogwood District race.

Two obvious candidates were Gretna and William Campbell, which have won the last nine district titles, capturing six state championships in the past seven seasons.

The rest included the Raiders, who last won a district title more than 10 years ago, Altavista which last made the regional playoffs nearly 20 years ago, and Dan River.

Preview capsules of Friday night’s football games involving area teams

There will be plenty at stake tonight at 7 at Sabre Stadium when Jefferson Forest, which occupies the sixth and final spot in the Region III, Division 4, playoff race, hosts Brookville, rated third in Region III, Division 3.

But even if that wasn’t the case, there would still be a different vibe in the air for this Seminole District showdown.

Win or lose, week 10 highlighted some outstanding individual efforts.

AMHERST — Jefferson Forest’s football team gave Amherst its toughest test of the season, Friday night at Lancer Stadium, before allowing the Lancers to capitalize on a couple of big plays and come away with a 30-0 victory, their second shutout of the season.

Brookville got back to the basics in practice, and it got back to its winning ways on the football field.

The Bees’ defense held E.C. Glass to 67 total yards and four first downs and their offense accounted for 342 yards in a 32-0 home victory Friday night.

NARUNA — Altavista had endured a lot of pain at the hands of William Campbell over the years, and plenty of humiliation.

The scores the last four seasons: 28-3, 56-0, 56-6, 70-0, all in favor of the Generals.

And when the Generals won those games, they made sure the Colonels knew how many points they scored, jumping up and down at the middle of the field once for each point tallied.

So it was with great satisfaction Friday night after Altavista’s convincing 28-6 victory that the Colonels gathered at one end of William Campbell’s stadium and jumped up and down 28 times.

CHATHAM — As Chatham’s defense time after time held Nelson County out of the end zone when the Governors were threatening in regulation, it was only fitting that the defense made two stands in overtime to give the offense a chance to get that elusive first win.

Chatham junior quarterback Cam McClellan scored on a touchdown run on the Cavaliers’ first play in the second overtime, sending Chatham to a thrilling 28-22 homecoming victory Friday night in a Dogwood District matchup.